Blowing out a breath, he sighed. “I don’t know for sure. I’m not saying I do. But… she’s been different lately. Scent’s been off. She’s been twitchy. Quiet. And now she’s vanished for ‘medical leave’ with no location listed and every trace of her presence scrubbed like she’s preparing to disappear.”
“She didn’t even tell Roan,” I said.
“Sheespeciallydidn’t tell Roan.”
That… hurt more than I wanted to admit.
I ran both hands through my hair and exhaled. “Okay. So Roan’s talking to Marchand. You and I are hunting records, emails, calendars. Maybe she used a team card to book gas or a hotel?”
“I already pulled up travel receipts for the last thirty days. Nothing yet.” Jay nodded to the flash drive. “But there’s one thing I haven’t checked. Marchand’s approval logs.”
“You think he signed off on something and thought no one would see it?”
“Or she tricked him into approving something vague that didn’t flag as personal.”
I stood. “Let’s dig.”
Jay followed. “You check logistics. I’ll check her flight records. If she used a corporate connection, I’ll find it.”
“And Roan?”
Jay’s tone cooled. “Let him deal with Marchand. He plays the long game. We don’t.”
I paused at the door and glanced back.
“She’s out there,” I said. “And if she’s about to go through what wethinkshe is…”
I turned back to the desk and gripped the edge like I needed something to hold me to the floor. My mind was moving too fast now, connecting things I didn’t want to connect.
“She’snotan omega,” I said again, quieter this time. She couldn’t be. It was damn impossible to wrap my head around it.
Like saying it gently might make it more true.
Jay didn’t bother to respond. Just waited, still and sharp, like a knife laid flat.
I laughed once. Hollow. Bitter.
“Fuck.” I scrubbed my hands down my face. “You know who was just here? Beckett fucking Rylan.”
Jay’s eyes narrowed instantly. “What are you talking about?”
“The day she left,” I said. “Remember? He showed up. Like some smug bastard out of nowhere. Said Marchand invited him. But that wasn’t the weird part.” My chest tightened. “The weird part was the way helookedat her.”
Jay didn’t interrupt, he just watched me with that all-seeing sharp gaze.
“I thought he was just being his usual territorial dickhead,” I kept going. “Like trying to get a rise out of Roan, or needle me into snapping.”
“He was always like that,” Jay said slowly. “But…”
I nodded, catching his train of thought. “But this time it was different. He didn’t look at her like a guy messing with a PR manager. He looked at her like a?—”
Anger flickered through Jay’s veneer of calm. “Like an unmated omega.”
The whole idea tasted like blood in my mouth.
I straightened and started pacing again, one hand fisted tight in my hoodie sleeve. “You’re telling me none of us noticed? Not once? Not in years?”
Jay tilted his head, frowning slightly. “If she was on suppressants…”
